Miami (October 9, 2019) - The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned the attacks and arrests against journalists during the coverage of protests in Ecuador and asked the government officials and the general public to respect the work of journalists.
Since the beginning of the protests last week after the government announced the suspension of the fuel subsidy and imposed a state of emergency, it is estimated that more than 50 journalists, cameramen and press workers from different media and communication platforms have been attacked physically and verbally, mostly by police, and protesters. Others were temporarily detained.
IAPA President Christopher Barnes, Managing Director of The Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica, said that "citizens need to be informed and therefore our call is to respect their work and not to limit or generate violence against journalists."
The president of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Roberto Rock, director of the La Silla Rota portal, Mexico City, Mexico, said that "we condemn that dozens of journalists have been beaten, limited in their work and detained temporarily by security forces."
Barnes and Rock evoked the fourth article of the Declaration of Chapultepec, signed by President Lenin Moreno last February. The article expresses that "pressures, intimidation, unjust imprisonment of journalists... violence of any kind and impunity of the aggressors severely curtail freedom of expression and of the press. These acts must be investigated promptly and severely punished."
The IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 publications from the Western Hemisphere; and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.
